So far we are passing the high speed rail ($9.95 bil), children's hospital ($980 mil), and veteran's bonds ($900 mil). Together, including interest, we will have to pay back $23.6 billion on these three bonds alone.

Anyone who's driven between SF and LA in the last few years know we NEED to do something, and soon. A 350 mile long traffic jam is not an option.

I have driven between the Sacramento area and LA more times than I care to count over the last 15 years and I-5 is always moving at full speed (unless there is an accident - a couple times over the years) until you are in the immediate vicinity of a large city.

Hey, I hope this does well as I would also love to be able to have an alternative to flying down to LA or taking a car to Pittsburg and then taking BART to SF, but I really don't see the advantage here. It would take me about 30-45 minutes to get to the station from my house. I can get to Pittsburg in less than an hour. BART fares from Pittsburg to SF airport (about the longest stretch of BART): $16. Round trip.

There is no way that prices will be low enough to make sense for shorter trips (SAC to SF) with existing cheap BART fares once you get close to SF. And for longert trips, say, Sac to San Diego, look at all the stops it makes.

No way it is competitive with flying if you are in a hurry. The only thing it does is get you out of a car, but is probably going to be hideously expensive for a trip of equivalent time, especially if a family is going somewhere. For instance, booking an end-to-end trip on the Acela train on the East Coast (the closest thing we have to HSR in the US, apparently) would cost a minimum of $250 for a round trip tomorrow and takes at least 6.5 hours. For one person. Try a family - the costs would be prohibitive for most for what could instead be less than a day's drive.

This comment was edited on Nov 5, 2008, 14:09.

Have I lied to you? I mean, in this room? Trust me, leave that thing alone. - GLaDOS